Smile, you're on speed camera

Like Willie Nelson, my band of gypsies spends too much of our "free time" on the road again, touring from here to there, and back. Molly and Erin are now collegians, and still an inordinate amount of our time is consumed commuting, just not necessarily together and/or at the same time.

Back when my then-little girls were always passengers and literally a captive audience, I used to teach them things: the National Anthem, the Lord's Prayer, how to read road signs.

We were running late for piano lessons - again - when Erin noticed the speedometer was registering a number different than what was posted. Molly, who always excelled in math, piped up, "Five miles over!"

"Mommy's going too fast, girls, you're right," I readily admitted. "I am choosing to break the rules, knowing I will have to pay the consequences if I get caught."

It took 15 years, but last month I got captured by camera radar.

I had just picked up Molly at Rocky Mountain High School, where she is student teaching. From super-swamped Swallow, I turned north onto Dunbar. From there, it was all - in every sense of the word - downhill. I purposefully accelerated in an attempt to make the green light at Drake, and - FLASH!

When dreaded evidence arrived via mail, I was surprised by the fine. I expected to pay into the triple digits, so I gladly forked over the 40 bucks. On closer inspection, I recognized the other name on the summons as a neighbor's.

Reed Beery was a CSU police officer for 25 years before becoming a peace officer, one of two whose duty is to attend the city's two photo radar vehicles.

"I respect the individual's First Amendment right," Reed said, "but I have taken more abuse in the last five-and-a-half years than when I was on patrol. I've been flipped off, yelled at. ? I'm not Big Brother."

Reed, who has himself received a photo speeding ticket, contends the presence of camera radar does not a speed trap make.

"First, there's a speed limit sign, and I put up a 'Photo Radar Ahead' sign 300-feet behind me," Reed explained. "There's no invading anyone's privacy, because there's no picture taken unless they're 10 miles over, which is willful speeding."

Despite conjecture to the contrary, Reed said there is absolutely no quota, and that he has never been pressured to "make any numbers."

"Deterrence is our deal, and the public has the power to put me out of a job (by not speeding)," he said.

Reed said he knows of at least three areas in town where limits were raised due to speed studies from camera operations. On two occasions, he was able to help track down stolen vehicles, and on a third, his photographic evidence helped apprehend a bank robber.

The cold, hard fact: Had a "real life" cop stopped me on Aug. 22 for the same violation, Reed said it would've cost me four-points and $150 fine - minimum.

Of course, I wasn't happy to get caught on camera. Nor did I like it when my daughters stopped playing piano and making music with their friends. But I accept both realities. My negligence lies in failing to introduce the Red Headed Stranger to my offspring, who wonder, "Willie, who?"

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Brenda Rader Mross is a self-employed voice artist and community volunteer. Her column appears the fourth Wednesday of each month.

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Smile, you're on speed camera

Like Willie Nelson, my band of gypsies spends too much of our 'free time' on the road again, touring from here to there, and back.